Playmates Toys' Michelangelo - TMNT 2012 series

Mikey is and always has been, my favourite turtle. He is the liveliest of the bunch, he uses a fairly unconventional fighting weapon, and he is just downright hilarious. He is super-improved by the 2012 series treatment. Whereas before Mikey was more of a slight prankster and joker, he is off-the-wall funny in this. His antics between the brothers probably made me want to watch the show more than any other single character. I dare you to watch the episode "The Gauntlet" from season 1 and not laugh. This series also makes him more emotionally immature, but loving, than previous iterations.
He is, after all, the youngest of the turtle brothers.

This figure is the shortest of the four turtles, and his lime green skin tone is pretty close to the show colours. One thing they didn't add to the paint --and I wouldn't expect in a Playmates toy-- is the darker green freckles, which add to his more teenager-innocent look.




He comes with a brown molded set of two nunchaku, two sets of four pointed shurikens (one straight and one curved) and a kusari-gama (sickle attached by a chain to a weighted end).
The nunchaku's fit with some effort into his back slots.

Sculpt&Paint: 3/5 This figure really comes through with the texturing of the skin, shell, bandages and even the weapons are pretty good. The paint is mostly fine, but it's fairly sloppy in some places, there's nothing on the weapons or belts, and obviously, there's no shading.

Articulation: 3/5 (19 PoA).  Given the old toys I wasn't expecting much range for these guys, but the shoulders and hips offer quite a bit. The elbows and knees are pretty limited in how far you can move them because of the way they made the elbow/knee pads + the overly bulky forearm. No ankles or waists (though you don't see waist articulation much on the turtles in nearly any figure lines except maybe SH Figuarts or Revoltech versions of the tutles).

Price/Availability: 5/5 Dead cheap on eBay. Search up TMNT action figure lots, or even most individual figures (whether that's this line or the 1980s line) and they'll be a dollar or two at most per figure.

Accessories: 2/5 Okay! TMNT figures have always come with their standard weapons and a couple of extra pieces like the shurikens and such. In this case, he has a few extras that are all unpainted, solid brown colour. Not bad, but definitely would've been nicer painted. Also, while I'm ok with having a staff unpainted molded in light brown plastic, it seems weird to have the shuriken also in the same color. It was clearly a cost saving measure, but c'mon!

Fun factor: 3/5 These are fairly good playwise! Unlike the older figures that sometimes had a raised up foot, these have flat, wide feed that makes it easier to pose and balance, even kicking. They look fairly decent on the shelf in a collection or a battle display.

Verdict: 16/25 Good. Generally, I will give this type of toy a decent to mediocre rating since I'm an adult toy collector...and this isn't an adult toy! That seems a little unfair perhaps, but ultimately I enjoy the figure and it was the first of four that got me into collecting, so it gets to have some blog time!

His accessories...emoji face! I attempted some paint on them
and never quite finished. A project for another day! 

Face sculpt is fine, but a little basic. They re-released
these figures with the eyes painted on and a more definite
animated TMNT look. 

One shuriken...

Two shuriken...

Four shuriken party time!!

They added this weapon to Mikey's arsenal and I love it.
Chain weapons are hard to use, but very cool when used well.
I think it is technically supposed to be released from his
nunchuks which also extends? I could be wrong on that one.

Kusari-gama attack! 

I'd love to have a second one of these and
replace the middle with real chain.

Obligatory Toy Shelf Kick

Some nunchuku poses

Doing an x block with a nunchuk set seems harder!

This is my favourite pose/set of weapons to put Mikey in

Boyakasha! Right in the eyes! 

Fearsome four! 

Training time!